March 3, 2012

Photos of the ruins of Buzludha, Bulgaria's extravagant monument to communism.

"A terrible snow storm surrounded the monument for the first 4 days we spent on the mountain.  During our daily visits to the site, I did not once get to see this fantastic structure from a distance. Striding towards it through deep powder, it would only emerge from the dense white fog just a matter of metres away."

Timothy Allen, via Metafilter, where the first comment reads: "It looks like what people in the 60s and 70s thought The Future was going to look like. I could easily see that as a set on a 1972 sci-fi show."

24 comments:

Temujin said...

Spectacular. Eerie. Something that seems from so long ago, yet is not. "Forget your past". Hmmm...

Roadkill said...

Another Communist artifact in the Ashheap of History.

traditionalguy said...

Is this that famous Dust Heap of History?

The 1890s movement left there and has morphed into our Environmental Masters of the future. So drop your CO2 use and raise your hands in surrender. At last a true tyranny has been born.

YoungHegelian said...

It's interesting to see what works of architecture can span regimes and what can't.

The Russian state seems unimaginable without the Kremlin --- be it under the czars, the Communists, or the present regime.

Other buildings like Hagia Sophia just seem to be so tied into the regime that each new regime has to re-invent it (a cathedral under the Byzantines, a mosque under the Ottomans, and a museum under the Attaturkites.

Wince said...

A "monument to communism".

"I see it now, over the horizon, it's in the shape of..."

Peter Hoh said...

Anyone else getting a Hoth vibe?

lemondog said...

UGH! The use of mass concrete to overwhelm the senses and imprison the mind and spirit. Did it have a media room with a continuous showing of 1984?

Video of the monstrosity

buzludzha monument

Chip S. said...

Great pics. They look like stills from the final scene of Doctor Zhivago II: Market Forces Strike Back.

bagoh20 said...

They flew over to it on a powered hang glider in terrible conditions to get a couple aerial photos. Freaking awesome and crazy and awesome.

bagoh20 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Rusty said...

Now I know where they got the idea for the alien ships in the movie'"Independence Day"

edutcher said...

I thought the Commies were on the right side of history.

Just like the Welfare State.

Oh, well, history ain't what it used to be.

CWJ said...

Forget the other comparisons. I immediately thought of Frank Lloyd Wright's Greek orthodox church in 'tosa.

Alex said...

I wonder how many such monuments Obama will leave us?

Quaestor said...

It looks like an exhibit from "Hamburger Joints of Tomorrow" as envisaged by Hanna-Barbera. Any minute now Judy Jetson is going to stroll out with her boyfriend Booster in tow.

john said...

Hang gliding in! Wings Over the World!

Looks like a movie set in which Raymond Massey might have been been seen?

OTOH, there was some similar architecture right here that might have served asa the model for this monstrosity, both in design and intent.

john said...

I am not a robot.

Dammit, how can I prove to you I am not a robot?

Wally Kalbacken said...

Reminds me of the
The Gobbler Supper
Club
. Only more elevated.

Insufficiently Sensitive said...

The dome was 'originally' covered with thirty tons of copper?

Har! How soon after 1989 did that People's Treasure get looted and hauled off for sale by the crooks?

This is chapter 2 of Ozmandias.

My name is Todor Zhivkov, Commissar of Commissars! Look on my works, o ye mighty, and despair.

Now if all our Red Professors in 'the academy' would just reflect on that, maybe some civilization could creep back into education.

Kirby Olson said...

Put the 3000 pages of Obamacare regulations on the heap. Maybe they should have their own park where the pages stick up much as they do in the 9/11 memorial in Liberty Park across from NYC:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empty_Sky_(9/11_memorial)

wyo sis said...

Even in the 60's the whole "modern" movement looked dated. The colors were ugly, they were inhuman. I hated then and still do hate the starkness and blandness of the "modern."

Unknown said...

Here's a soon-to-be relic due to the folly of our own central planners.

http://www.castlecoalition.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=194&Itemid=113

Carnifex said...

It has an almost alien presence to it. Where's Chip when you need him to describe something I lack the words for? The mottoes over the doorways evoke a entrance to hell ala Dante.

Cam anyone say Niflheimr?

NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...

Ugh.

"Look upon my works, ye mighty, and despair!"